She Knew
by ohgodthespian
Summary: What if there was a bit of additional information that Dumbledore shared about the prophecy with Alice and Lily that affected the night Harry survived the Killing Curse? What if Dumbledore had a theory about The-Boy-Who-Lived? Marauders era. Pre-Harry (sort of, he's in Lily's stomach). Not really AU, but more a theory that JKR has never explained. One-shot. Rated T just in case.


_A/N: I don't own Harry Potter, any of the characters, or any of the settings. The plot is a theory of mine. Take it as you will. It's just a one-shot. Maybe a two-shot technically haha._

It was a seemingly normal autumn day in Godric's Hollow. The leaves were rapidly changing and leaving the trees they were attached to. The weather was dropping from the hot days of the summer into the cool days of autumn. There was a slight brisk to the air. To the untrained eye, it was a normal day in a normal wizarding neighborhood. Small children could even be seen playing out by the cottages, with the occasional bout of accidental magic creating a small tornado of leaves or breaking a picket fence.

Inside of number 7 Church Lane, a disgruntled red-haired woman sat at the window, looking out at the small children. An audible sigh left her mouth.

"What is it darling?" a messy haired man with glasses asked as he turned the corner into the sitting room with a tray holding tea and biscuits.

"Do you think Harry will get to play with children like that one day?" the woman asked, with a longing look back out the window.

The man sat down next to the woman and looked into her bright green eyes. "We mustn't think we'll be stuck here forever. Dumbledore was sure that they were going to take down You-Know-Who soon and then Harry can grow up without the fear of saving the world on his shoulders. Not that he wouldn't be able to, with my blood he'll be a bloody fine wizard. Lily, look at me, this will blow over. I promise."

"You can't promise that, James. You just can't," Lily pleaded, placing a hand on her growing stomach. She felt guilty for not telling James the truth, but he didn't need to know. He was better off not knowing what Dumbledore had told her before they went into hiding.

 _The Dumbledore's Army meeting was wrapping up very solemnly. Three of their members had not returned from a mission to infiltrate what could have been a meeting place for Death Eaters. The Dark Side was gaining popularity. It was not looking good._

" _James, Lily, Frank, and Alice, a word after we dismiss, if you will," Dumbledore stately calmly as he dismissed the meeting._

 _The four stayed behind, unsure of what this conversation would hold. It could not be good news._

" _What is it Albus, why do you look so grim?" James tried to joke. Not getting a rise out of the older man, his smile fell and he straightened up._

" _I'm afraid I have some terrible, terrible news that could involve either of you," Dumbledore started, glancing at Lily and Alice. He continued after a moment of puzzled looks. "There has been a prophecy made in my presence a mere couple of days ago. The prophecy stated: 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...' and as the only ones' I know to be expecting sons around that time is both of you, I must warn you of the implications of this. Voldemort knows about this prophecy. I cannot share how, I just can share that he does. It is imperative that you four go into hiding. I would suggest doing so after this meeting. You need to ensure that there is a Fidelius charm placed on your house. Pick someone you would trust with your life, because that is what you are trusting with that."_

" _But Albus, if we are marked for attack by Voldemort himself, shouldn't we use that to our advantage? We could lure him somewhere and ambush him," Frank suggested, thinking like an auror._

" _No!" Dumbledore yelled. "I would not dare use Lily or Alice as bait for that. It is unspeakable. As you all are adults, I cannot force you to make this decision, but know that it is not a suggestion I throw at you lightly. Your safety, and the safety of your children, is much, much more important to me than catching Voldemort. And while you are in hiding, please do not use his name, I have a suspicion he can use it as a beacon and find you. We are close to finding and defeating him, this is not a permanent situation."_

 _James and Lily argued with Frank and Alice over the prophecy and what it could mean. It was vague and Lily was not even sure a prophecy was a real thing, not having taken Divination at Hogwarts. Frank did not want to go into hiding but Alice was concerned what it could mean if they did not. They had tried very hard to become pregnant and did not want an evil man coming in the way of that. James was trying to come up with a different plan, but was failing to do so. Even with his wand behind his ear, his signature "thinking" pose, he could not think of an alternative plan. The two men were trying to sort through the prophecy when Dumbledore tapped both Lily and Alice on the shoulder._

" _A word please, quietly," he said, pulling them slightly away from their husbands._

" _I think we can convince them to go into hiding," Lily assured him, knowing James would listen to her if she insisted._

" _Oh, I am quite sure that you can," Dumbledore started with a twinkle in his eye. "However, there is something more I wanted to discuss with the two of you, as it directly affects both of you, and something you will need to decide if you want to tell Frank or James. I fear this prophecy has more meaning than we originally are thinking. When it mentions 'either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives' I truly think it means either your son must kill Voldemort, for that will be the only way to kill the man. I fear that even if both of you go into hiding he may find you. He has ways of discovering things that I have not yet discovered. Whichever son he marks as his equal_ _must_ _live when Voldemort tries to kill him. In addition, this attempt to kill the boy must kill Voldemort himself. I have been doing research on the matter and I think I have found a way to make this work."_

 _Dumbledore paused and looked over at the two men, who now had a scroll out and were scribbling on it simultaneously. They were preoccupied and hadn't even noticed their wives weren't right beside them._

" _There is a bit of ancient magic that I believe can be used to survive the killing curse. As with a lot of ancient strong magic, it is considered dark magic and requires a sacrifice. This sacrifice must come from the mother of the child. In order for this magic to work, the mother must make a cut on both herself and her son, complete the saying, and transfer her magic to his. This causes a bond that should make a powerful enough shield of sorts that will protect the child, and it should ricochet the magic Voldemort will use back onto himself, successfully killing him."_

" _How do you know this will work?" Alice questioned. She had never heard of such magic._

" _I don't," Dumbledore stated. "This is mere guesswork and research. After I heard the prophecy I consulted my library in hopes of finding something to destroy a prophecy and stumbled upon this bit of information. This magic was used to protect the sons of powerful soldiers in ancient times. The mothers would conduct this sacrifice before their sons would go off into battle and the sons would come home victorious. There is no evidence that this magic could also turn a spell back onto its owner, but the theory is there. If done correctly, it could save us all."_

 _Lily looked back at her husband. He would not agree to it. He would not let Lily sacrifice herself, no matter the reason. He would insist there was another way and fight for an alternative. There was no way she could tell him. However, she trusted Dumbledore completely. If he said there was a chance that this could work, that there was something that could save her son and the Wizarding world, she would do it. She looked over at Alice and knew Alice agreed as well. Alice might tell Frank though, as he would not fault Dumbledore's logic about this. Alice nodded at Lily._

" _I will do whatever it takes," Alice said._

" _So will I," Lily agreed._

"You are right James, I know you are, I am just going stir crazy," Lily lied after a moment and stared into James's warm brown eyes. It was almost a lie that she could make herself believe. Lily kissed James softly and pushed the memory out of the forefront. Harry wouldn't be born for quite a while, and she knew things would work out in the end. She knew.

 _A/N: So there it is, my little one-shot theory behind what_ _actually_ _happened leading up to the Potter's going into hiding and Harry surviving the killing curse. I believe there is more that JKR is not telling us. This could be it, that missing piece that bugs me. This idea came to me after watching HP4 and it astonished me that no one thought of this theory! In my mind it makes so much sense that Lily knew! And Voldemort studied ancient magic to discover how to make Horcrux's so he easily could have come across this magic and realized it after it happened and that's what he's referring to in the graveyard._

 _As always, leave comments, criticisms, concerns, questions, whatever, below. Did I screw up a detail? I probably have grammatical errors in there, so let me know if you discover one. This is only my second ever one-shot, so I'm still learning. Thanks! I really appreciate your feedback!_


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